Being real for a second, I don't see how you can find more substance in a high school romance story than what we find in I100%. It's not a 'happily ever after' ending, either. The important last lines are all questions...

"About starting our relationship afresh, can you go out with me once more?""Can you make my heart flutter once more...?"

They are still kids...well, young adults, and any more than that isn't unrealistic, IMO.

As for the breakups, I think they served to solidify the relationship, more than it hurt...in the long-term, of course. It was during the time apart that they really grew as individuals.

Ending the story before the relationship can go anywhere....I'd say it is.

I'm sorry, but if you think that an ending with so many uncertainties is a 'happily ever after' ending, then I simply don't understand your logic at all. The point of this ending is that they are beginning their relationship anew now that they have grown into adults. It's hopeful, but no guarantees.

Umm...I don't even know how to respond to you because your thought processes are so different from mine.

I'd like to say one thing!I like all the characters of ichigo100%, but....

Why Manaka choose Nishino, was because he's heartbroken, for the wrong reasons, i personally think that if aya didn't get her bra wet incident happened then there still might be a chance for aya to be with manaka, although it would be really-really hard, since there is the fact that nishino confessed to manaka already and that's just that, the way the story is developed made my head dizzy, not because it's awful, it's perfect, but rejecting the girls pained me a lot... I feel sorry for all of them....

Because of ichigo100%, i couldn't eat much, couldn't think of anything else but the pain of the whole book(the memories of the book...), i couldn't do anything....

Why did the ending would be so painful, if manaka rejected all three girls, just like the movie he wathced that sotomura's sister suggeste, and saying to all the girls that he couldn't choose, he pained from everything, then i can accept that.... It might not make sense, but that's how i feel....

I just hope the mangaka makes multiple endings..... since then everyone would be happy.......

Naaahh, I would'nt even count on the multiple endings. and as a reaction that my post was a negative response to the manga, I really intent to just give an honest opinion. which was received negatively. its okay, at least I really enjoyed the manga. regardless of it's "flaws".

flaws...? it has flaws...? tell me bout it. i enjoyed the manga eversince chapter one. eventhough sometimes u will see some repetitive (esp in the ecchi part) but the conflict that manaka had to faced is waaaaaaaaaaaaay to hard for him, choosing aya or nishino. but really, i was so suprised at the end. hope the author can create a sequel. anyway guys, the manga already end, so no need to argue. everyone enjoyed the story, everyone is happy, and nothing is perfect, k guys? even if u were told to create a manga, i know ur manga wouldn't so good compared to ichigo. heh.

For me, ever since I read earlier volumes, I always hope that Manaka will end up with Nishino. And it turns out that way ^_^Here is my analysis :

Toujou is a girl that Manaka loved the most at the beginning, but as many things happen, and both of them seemed to keep their feeling to themselves, the feeling comes out a bit late

Satsuki is a girl who share the most similarity with Manaka, from hobbies, conversation topic, etc. Manaka feels comfortable talking to her, but I believe he never actually like her in the sense of love.

Nishino, started from accidental confession, she win Manaka's heart slowly but sure. If Manaka can gather his courage to confess to Toujou sooner, Nishino wouldn't had a chance. Nishino has the least similarity with Manaka, she and Manaka seem to live in two different world. HOWEVER... Nishino is the only girl who actually provide the support for Manaka in his hard times. She keep supporting him regardless his feeling to her, giving him a "place to call home". And this is the reason why Manaka finally fall for her.

At the beginning of the story, I thought that it was all about how Toujo and Manaka would eventually end up together. And it seemed that way until Nishino made her comeback during the whole valentines day chocolate thing.....

I think Ichigo 100% ended up pretty well (it would appear that this opinion is pretty unpopular around here). Storywise, you couldn't ask for much more. They answered the main question of the series, WHICH GIRL WAS MANAKA GONNA PICK?

Now while lots of people complain that it should have been Toujo instead of Nishino, i say to them : IT DOESN'T MATTER. Readers should be glad enough that the author actually picked someone instead of giving the dreaded "I choose neither but everyone stays best of friends" ending......

I don't understand why people say it doesn't make sense for Manaka to choose Nishino over Toujo. The story was set up so that either one of them could have been theoretically chosen. (I'm sorry to the Satsuki fans, but she was written off as one of the potential choices wayyyy in the beginning during volume 6, coincidentally it was when Nishino made her comeback).

While I think that Manaka actually made the right choice, I was still pretty shocked about the ending, because I thought that this was how the author was gonna end it since the beginning.

I think Nishino was better as a character, because we were able to see her during both her high and low points. She had more of a realistic quality to her. We were allowed to learn about her insecurities, which I think everyone could relate to. (In another post, this aspect of her was incorrectly labeled as being "trust issues"; its not trust issues, everyone has insecurities about themselves).

Toujo on the other hand really doesn't develop much as a character after her intial transition from nerd to most popular girl in school. Most of the emotional appeal of Toujo was from the whole "I like him, but he already has a girlfriend" conflict she had. But once Nishino was out of the picture, this conflict became irrelevent, and instead, the roles reversed and turned into Nishino liking Junpei, but being afraid of Toujo. It isn't until the very end of the story that we're ever given another reason to cheer for Toujo again, but that was only cuz everyone felt bad about seeing a great character like her getting rejected like that.

(As you can tell, I'm a Nishino fan.........but that doesn't mean I thought Toujo was a bad character, only I just related to Nishino better during most of the story.)

Still, I think this was a great series overall..... sad to see it ending (when Yanime's version comes out......LQ fansubbs suck, but I couldn't hold out anylonger, i tried to wait)....... but at least it gave us a decent ending that answered the main question about the story

The ending was nowhere near decent. Characters were left out, events were rushed, Nishino received no development other than a new wardrobe and bag, etc.

I'm thinking that we both have different opinion of what we both consider the ending to be. As for me, I consider the ending to have occurred the moment Toujo got rejected. In theory, you could have ended the story right there: rejection, run to Nishino to tell her, live happily ever after....... (but this ending would suck....) All of the chapters afterwards, I consider to be extra stuff, inserted only to create a sense of closure for some of the main characters. Yes, its true some characters were left out.....but thats cuz they were relatively minor characters anyways. The main ones, Manaka, Toujo, Satsuki, and even Mukai had a sort of resolution.

Nishino's character development was done over the course of the entire story....so of course her character wouldn't have dramatically change during the ending. Why would you expect that out of one of the main characters??

I'm just looking for more substance than "happily ever after", which is what this ending ultimately is.

And how can you NOT be pessimistic after seeing this couple disintegrate not once, but twice? Nishino should've stayed behind in Japan, then this outcome would've been much easier to swallow.

This was the exact thing that I made this ending surprising to me. The predictable one would have been either she stayed behind to be with Manaka or Nishino leaves and Manaka hooks up with Toujo. This was exactly what I liked about the ending. It didn't give us the obvious ending like Love Hina or Chobits (everyone knew Keitaro would pick Naru, Hideki was obviously the "one only for Chi"). Endings to stories have the tendency to be very predicable, especially for romance type stories.

And please Freeter..... don't write off my opinions just because I said I'm a Nishino fan. I would have been just as happy with the ending if Toujo was chosen too. I'm just happy he picked SOMEONE, instead of leaving it ambiguous. Do I think the ending was the greatest ending in the world? No..... Could it have been done better? Probably..... But to call it a complete trainwreck of an ending, I think is a bit extreme.

I would have been glad to debate the various arguments of why the ending was good or bad with you. I fully realize that this is only my opinion and that other people will have their own opinions of the story. Freeter, you writing me off with your comment at the end just shows either a lack of respect to other's opinions, a lack of emotional maturity or some unfulfilled superiority complex that you have. (I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get flamed for the last comment........hehehe)

Nishino's character development was done over the course of the entire story....so of course her character wouldn't have dramatically change during the ending.Â Why would you expect that out of one of the main characters??

Went to France, stayed there for 4 YEARS....do I really need to go on?

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Do I think the ending was the greatest ending in the world?Â No.....Â Â Could it have been done better?Â Probably.....Â Â But to call it a complete trainwreck of an ending, I think is a bit extreme.Â

Amachi and Kozue disappear off the face of the earth, Yui gets abandoned into a worthless omake, and Manaka's entire character development is crammed into one chapter.

Went to France, stayed there for 4 YEARS....do I really need to go on?

yes you do have to go on. I think you're confusing the last chapter of the series as the ending. It isn't. The last chapter is only an epilogue to the story. Its not meant to develop anything. Its only supposed to just give the reader an update to what happen to the characters afterwards. This technique is quite common in novel literature.

**Think the last half an hour of LOTR: Return of the King - story ended when frodo destroyed the ring........ everything else was just to show what happened afterwards....